Sunday, September 13, 2015

The fire-nut festival

Throughout the summer there are many festivals and gatherings. These usually follow a full moon and celebrate a successful moon-berry harvest. The fire nut festival on the other hand is held four days before the first full moon of autumn, in anticipation of the harvest of the bright red "fire nuts". In contrast to the other summer festivals this one is celebrated jointly by all the forest denizens together. Each year it is hosted by a different group. The festivities include a nut hunt by the children, feats of strength, speeches by community leaders reflecting on the past year, and a friendship dance expressing goodwill between variant groups. This is when a dwarven delegate makes a symbolic assertion of Delver dominance over the region by announcing any new laws or variant rulings made in Vali. The dwarven presence at the festival tends to be somewhat aloof and is usually limited to a couple from the lumber camp, a delegate from the city, and a representative from the shrine of Bogomaš. The general feeling that pervades the event is that of a last hurrah of summer before the long isolation of the winter months.